Techniques such as combinatorial chemistry have made it possible to generate large numbers of compounds that may be useful as electrocatalysts, photocatalysts, and/or photoabsorbers. It is often desirable to perform electrochemical experiments on these compounds in order to identify compounds having desirable characteristics. However, because of the large number of compounds being considered it is often desirable to perform these experiments using small amounts of the compound in combination with small amounts of electrolyte solution. The systems that have been developed to perform electrochemical experiments on small amounts of compound have encountered undesirably high levels of resistance between the working electrode and the reference electrode. Further, reaction products from the electrochemical experiments can contaminate the small volume of the electrolyte solution. Additionally, gaseous reaction products can form bubbles in the electrolyte solution. The systems are also challenged by an inability to optically access the compound when it is desirable to perform photoelectrochemical experiments and incompatibility with scanning across a large number of different samples. As a result, there is a need for an improved system for performing electrochemical experiments.